Two quick updates regarding the state senate campaign.

1. Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star reporter, has a new story up that the Republican Party is giving up on the other contested state senate race and focusing on the 19th state senate district. Click here to read the whole story.

As a helpful reminder Timm's name has two M's in it. If you spell it wrong he becomes enraged. I wrote his name on a name tag at a luncheon wrong and he crumpled it up and threw it in my food. I mostly picked around it but the taste of avery labels made it a bit odd.

2. Tony Strickland and The Santa Barbara News Press keep going after Hannah-Beth Jackson for attending a meeting where assembly Democrats talked about holding up the state budget for tactical reasons in their budget negotiations. The meeting was accidentally sent out across the capitol building.

What the editorial and the Strickland campaign doesn't say is what, if anything, Hannah-Beth Jackson said at the meeting. Did she argue against delaying the budget? It would seem pretty odd to attack her for arguing against her own party.

I don't know what she said, but if the paper is going to make the charge, they should back it up.

Is the Santa Barbara News Press a right wing paper? They seem to be really against Hannah-Beth Jackson. Who else are they supporting this election season?

Click on continue reading to see the press release with the full article.

The LA Times had an article recently about the state senate race between Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland. Click here to read it for yourself.

The thesis of the article is that both sides are trying to reach out to voters who are not members of either party.

Here are some notable lines:

To partisans, they are "Phony Tony" and "Taxin' Jackson."

( About Tony Strickland's company ) The company doesn't have any employees, services or products because it's still waiting for its permit to be approved, he said.

But Strickland says his change of heart is real. Like T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oil man now advocating cleaner energy sources, he has decided that America must "get off foreign oil," Strickland said.

And Hannah-Beth Jackson? The 58-year-old Democrat is so liberal that she's never seen a tax she didn't like, according to Strickland's supporters. Voters couldn't have a clearer choice, both sides say.

I am curious. If elected, would Tony Strickland be expected to sell off his interest in his alternative energy company being that he would be voting on issues related to it very often, or would he be expected to abstain on votes concerning energy policy?

Maybe he would be more effective in the private sector if he isn't going to be voting on the policies that are really important to him. I would expect he would sell his portion of the company to another willing investor.

Tell me if you think my analysis is missing something.

( A few videos from SBTV21 in Santa Barbara showing Tony Strickland and Hannah-Beth Jackson. Have you seen either of these on television? Click here to see more videos about other candidates.)

The Santa Barbara Independent has endorsed Hannah-Beth Jackson for state senate.

Click here for the endorsements from the Santa Barbara Independent.

I don't read the Santa Barbara Independent much because I live in Simi Valley. What is the reputation of the paper? Many alternative weekly papers lean far to the left. The Independent endorsements clearly favor Democrats ( They endorsed Marta Jorgenson, Pedro Nava, and Lois Capps.) but their news coverage seems to be equitable. If you live in a community that reads the Independent, what do you think of their reputation with readers?

Anyways, in the coming weeks more newspapers are going to make endorsements. What do you think they are worth? Feel free to preemptively spin if you don't think your candidate will earn a particular paper's endorsement.

In a campaign with low name ID they would seem helpful. I would be curious what % of district voters are following this campaign. If they didn't mean anything at all or it was already obvious who they were going to endorse. rival candidates wouldn't waste their time trying to explain themselves to the community advisory group that The Star puts in charge of their endorsements.

Click here for their recent articles about this campaign.

Click here to see Ventura County Star Editor Joe Howry's explanation of the endorsement process.

The video is an animated version of the mailer that I have already written about. Click here to see the printed version. What do you think? Does it cut through the media clutter? Have you see it on television. Leave a comment with what channel you saw it on and how often have you seen it.

I think it is odd enough to draw in attention. Again, connecting the donations from tobacco money to votes is powerful, but the other issues seem not as clear cut to me. What do you think about the other issues? Have you heard about the car buyer's bill of rights before this advertisement ? I must have missed this issue entirely. I know there are certain laws that protect car buyers but I don't know much about how they have been altered in recent years.

Click here for the DMV's page on the Car Buyer's Bill of Rights.

Am I expected to care about a car buyer's bill of rights when the economy is in crisis and the state budget is in deficit even though it was only passed a few weeks ago?

I know she has talked about economic issues on her website, at debates, and in other places too, but it should be the major focus of both campaigns.

This part of her recent mailer, tying Tony Strickland to the subprime mortgage disaster, seems to be a very effective criticism of his record:

Tony Strickland's support ( even though he is very vague about actual policies ) for alternative energy allows him to talk about national security, the environment, and jobs all at the same time. Has Hannah-Beth Jackson's campaign sent anything out attacking what his critics call his greenwashing about his actual policies?

The above ad attacks his environmental record. Have you seen it on the air or only online? Click here to see all of Hannah-Beth Jackson's ads on her youtube channel. It doesn't include IE's of course. I know there are many ads from both campaigns I miss. Feel free to send them to me or leave a comment describing them.

If you see any mailer, video, or other campaigning you want me to post all you need to do is send me an email.

If you scan a mailer and send it to me I will post it.

UPDATED: I altered some of the writing here to reflect the accurate criticisms from my readers, that were both posted and emailed in. Especially pointing out the earlier mailer I had already posted! Thanks for the feedback.

With Democrats outnumbering Republicans in Ventura County and other GOP strongholds about to fall, the tensions are running high between the paid staff people in the streets that are getting paid per signature or registration for their party they collect.

Recently, there has been more allegations that Republicans have been using subterfuge to trick people into becoming Republicans. There have been stories of lying to voters or changing forms after they have been turned in. Click here to read more about that.

The Republicans are now claiming that Democrats are the group behind dirty ticks across Southern California. They have sent out a threatening letter to the Democrats to get them to back off.

Because of the contested senate campaign both parties are using paid staff to register voters. This use of party resources doesn't appear on the state senate candidates' campaign finance disclosure forms, so we don't really know how many people are working across the district or how much money is being spent.

If you see a signature gatherer they are bound by law to tell you if they are getting paid for signature. Ask them who is paying them and post here the details.

This is from a long comic book style mailer sent to a DTS voter from the Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign. To see the full mailer click on continue reading. Thanks to my reader that scanned it and emailed it to me. I appreciate you trying to get more information out to voters.

A Few Quick thoughts:

1. Why is Tony Strickland so short? You consultants must know he is really tall and played Basketball for Royal High School.
2. Is this a collector's edition, or will there be more coming out?
3. For both campaigns: if you are proud of all your campaign mailers, why not post them on your own website? It will also be helpful if there was bill numbers on them to make it easier to do our own research. Without bill numbers I am not going to back up the veracity of the claims in this. or most ads.
4. People always complain about "big" tobacco and "big" oil but what about medium and small tobacco or oil?
5. I don't have a number 5 but 4 seems like an odd place to end.

Overall, it is an effective add. The most hard hitting part for me is the tobacco donations. Say what you want about tobacco companies being a legal industry, but voters tend to have many reasons to distrust them. Any of my readers want tobacco companies to have more influence on the legislature?

This appears to be the next attack from an IE directed at Tony Strickland. Check out the funders of it at the end. I don't know if it has been officially released or if it is on television but someone found it and leaked me the URL. Thanks!

If you see a mailer you want posted, please scan it at high quality and save it is a .jpeg file. Then email it to me to post. It doesn't matter if it is a major or minor candidate, send them in and create some coverage for your candidates.

As an added bonus mention if it was sent to a Republican, Democratic, DTS, or other party voter.

If you have photos of signs around your town you want me to post, send in those photos too.

It won't surprise many of my regular readers but The California Association of Political Centrists ( CAPC ) leadership isn't exactly huge fans of Tony Strickland and his politics. They released their ratings for the most contested election happening in Ventura County this season.

Katie Teague or Leslie Cornejo, could you or other CAPC members answer a few questions?

1. How did you come to this decision? Did you meet in person? Vote on it? Was it more of a consensus?

2. How has former State Assemblymember Dr. Keith Richman been involved in the group lately? Do you think that his past political positions as a moderate have made it harder on your group? He has upset people on the left and the right locally.

3. What other positions do you plan on rating this election season?

4. I am surprised that Neal Andrews hasn't spoken out about this election. I know he is a leader for McCain in Ventura County. He must have something to say about the state senate campaign.

5. How would the group rate the governor's tenure thus far? If you want, speak for yourself instead of the group.

I have confirmed that a PAC with local connections has polled the State Senate campaign and has determined it is within the margin of error. They are raising money and are expected to spend a sizable amount on behalf of their favored candidate.

If you have information on polling of this campaign, please send it in.

( The name of the band is "Middle of the road".)

The California Association of Political Centrists is soliciting their members for opinions about endorsing a candidate in the State Senate campaign between Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland. Katie Teague sent me an email that went out to their group members. Click on continue reading to see it.

Of all the endorsements not yet announced in Ventura County, which is the most valuable? I would think Mickey Jones could help. Any other ideas?

Should CAPC make their opinion known as a group?

I say go for it. If you think she will stand up for moderate voters, redistricting, and she is wants the groups endorsement, why wouldn't you do it?

Does Tony Strickland even want their support? It doesn't sound like it.

The Ventura County Chamber of Commerce PAC has endorsed Tony Strickland. Click on continue reading to see the press release. I have been busy and missed a few press releases from his campaign. Click here for the list of recent press releases. Tony Strickland has also updated his endorsement page. Click here to see it.

Hie energy policy hasn't been updated yet. It doesn't mention if he supports subsidies, tax cuts, eliminating zoning or other requirements that other businesses go through or money for research.

( The above video is Hannah-Beth Jackson's latest in the state senate race. Click here to read about it from fellow Ventura County Star blogger and Ventura Community activist, Marie Lakin. )

There is a report that people supporting Tony Strickland are push polling voters. Are the questions being asked surprising at all? We need more reports or details before we know what is going on. For example, is it Tony Strickland's campaign or an outside group?

Have you received any calls from either campaign?

( Have you seen this ad on television? I think I saw it once during the Olympics.)

Hannah-Beth Jackson sent out a fundraising appeal to help her fight back against supporters of Tony Strickland who put an ad attacking her on local stations and of course blogs.

The Star did a fact check on the ad you can read by clicking here.

To see her fundraising appeal click on continue reading.

It is truism in politics that negative ads work but voters hate negative ads.

Will Hannah-Beth Jackson's campaign make negative attacks into an effective issue?